Made in Banffhttp://www.banffcentre.org
The Banff Centre BlogFri, 30 Jan 2015 16:11:18 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.3Second generation of profound learning at The Banff Centre’s Peter Lougheed Leadership Institutehttp://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2015/01/15/second-generation-of-profound-learning-at-the-banff-centres-peter-lougheed-leadership-institute/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=second-generation-of-profound-learning-at-the-banff-centres-peter-lougheed-leadership-institute
http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2015/01/15/second-generation-of-profound-learning-at-the-banff-centres-peter-lougheed-leadership-institute/#commentsThu, 15 Jan 2015 16:55:10 +0000http://www.banffcentre.org/?p=21547As the young daughter of a Canadian Armed Forces member, Kaaren Pearce regularly received letters from foreign lands from where her father was stationed. As the eldest child she was responsible for reading them to her younger brothers to keep them updated on his peacekeeping missions abroad.

At the age of 8, a note came to Kaaren addressed from Banff, Alberta. Unlike the others, this letter was written specifically for her. While taking part in a 6-week Leadership Development program at The Banff Centre, her father shared how the courses were making a real difference in helping shape his outlook on leadership; not only how it applied to his work, but also to his community and family.

“We had a very close relationship, but looking back, this was the first time he wrote to me as an adult,” said Kaaren. “It made me realize that grown-ups don’t have all the answers. That they get scared and are challenged and that’s ok.”

From that point forward, her father regularly challenged her to find new ways to look at things. “He was my go-to for advice. I often called looking for answers. He always listened and helped guide me to make the right choice. When they were the wrong choices, he was there to help me sort it out and make sure I learned from my mistakes. He was a great leader,” Kaaren said.

Kaaren is currently in a senior management position as the Director of Grounds for Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Conservancy. A horticulturalist and arborist by trade, she recently decided to increase her business acumen, grow her peer network, and add to her existing management experience by earning her Certificate in Strategic Leadership from the Peter Lougheed Leadership Institute at The Banff Centre with help from funding opportunities and organizational support.

“When I first went to The Peter Lougheed Leadership Institute, I was nervous. Most of the people in my class were CEO’s and other senior managers. I really did not think I was one of them and I was wondering what the heck I was doing with all these highly successful people,” she said. “Through the mentorship and connections I made I have the confidence to say I belong here, I deserve to be here, and I can only get better at this. This campus lends itself to amazing things.”

At a recent strategic planning meeting at the Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park Conservancy, an initiative Kaaren has been spearheading was chosen as a focal point for her organization moving forward. She has since briefed her business unit on the Liberating Structures course work and an email-based performance management program iDoneThis both of which were introduced to her in her most recent program at The Peter Lougheed Leadership Institiute, Creating Positive Change.

“I was struggling with how to reach across all levels of staff at the Winnipeg Assiniboine Park Conservancy. The tools I learned will help me to gain acceptance and buy in from the entire organization. Now I feel very confident that we will succeed in creating the required ensemble that will accomplish this unified idea,” Pearce said.

While her father’s letters from Banff all those years ago convinced Kaaren to come to The Banff Centre’s Peter Lougheed Leadership Institute, she is now looking forward to taking these leadership lessons back and applying them first hand: “I will be leading positive change not only for our organization, but the community we live in and the communities we work with. And to be bold, if we do it right we may even change a bit of the world.”

]]>http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2015/01/15/second-generation-of-profound-learning-at-the-banff-centres-peter-lougheed-leadership-institute/feed/0Living the Best Day Everhttp://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/12/29/living-the-best-day-ever/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=living-the-best-day-ever
http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/12/29/living-the-best-day-ever/#commentsMon, 29 Dec 2014 18:57:53 +0000http://www.banffcentre.org/?p=21528Read More]]>It is now four years since our friend and author of Adventure Travel book Living the Best Day Ever, Hendri Coetzee, was taken from his kayak by a crocodile in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The tragedy was compounded by a request from him to the two of us (myself and filmmaker Emily Hatfield) to edit and produce his book for publication. The enormous task sat heavy on our shoulders.

Hendri Coetzee, the subject of the film Kadoma and the memoir, Living the Best Day Ever

Arriving in Banff for the 2014 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival (Living the Best Day Ever was a finalist in the Book Competition) was like coming full circle. Self-publishing the dream book in a style of the nineteenth century Africa explorers that inspired Hendri was only possible with a talented team of friends and family. We polished the final text left behind in the kayak he was paddling during the incident, added photos that date back to his childhood and included maps hand-inked to illustrate his journeys. The memoir is full of humor, harrowing tales of African adventures, and whitewater poetry.

The Banff Mountain Book Competition was the first port to call, an ideal fit given the success of Kadoma, Hendri’s tribute film that won best film Adventure and Exploration, 2011. Director and fellow paddler Ben Stookesberry joined us at The Banff Centre to celebrate Hendri’s success. To be recognized at such a prestigious festival validates that Hendri was both a world-class paddler and captivating author. In spirit he joins the throngs of outdoor enthusiasts gathered in this space to celebrate the continuing legacies of individuals pushing the boundaries of their sport.

We were in fact, amazed by how many adventure industry people were reading, had just finished, or traveled with Hendri’s book to the festival.His story has reached outside the whitewater world and onto the nightstands of those of us who share his ethos – the idea that “It is all about today. Today is the best day ever because tomorrow might not happen.”

During the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival the Hendri Coetzee Trust was able to connect with fellow authors, filmmakers, athletes, and creators to gain access for the self-published memoir. From there, we are being featured in the Explorers Connect Bristol meeting on the January 8. Books will be sold at the Adventure Travel Show in London from January 16-17 through TIA Adventures, the company set up by Hendri’s best friend and fellow adventurer Pete Meredith. We are counting down the copies with only roughly 1,500 left in stock.

Then, the trust will venture to Uganda, Hendri’s former playground, for the Nile River Festival. The organizers created a special event called the Hendri Coetzee Itunda Race. It is a head-to-head speed and style race down a class-five river, where the paddlers go through rapids with names like “pencil sharpener” and “ashtray” with the finish line in “the bad place.” It is a symbolic location to have the event because there is a memorial bench that sits on the hill above the festivities.

Etched into the wood is his name and a quote from his book, “Thank you for the flat rock I sleep on. Thank you for the peace I feel. Thank you for the chance to live my dreams.”

The Banff School of Fine Arts (BSFA) had been operating a summer arts program in Banff under the auspices of the University of Alberta’s Department of Extension since 1933. However, by the late 1960s, with the transfer of responsibility for BSFA to the University of Calgary in 1966 and the subsequent retirement of longtime BSFA Director Donald Cameron, the future status of the institution was very much up in the air. It was in response to this uncertainty that J. R. Kidd, Chairman of the Department of Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, submitted a report to Alberta’s Minister of Education. The report included a number of recommendations regarding the future direction of the Banff School. Perhaps most impactful was his suggestion that The Banff Centre be made an “independent institution” with programming in the areas of arts and management education as well as a mandate to continue to provide a setting for professional conferences. This vision was realized in 1978, when The Banff Centre Act officially established The Banff Centre as an independent entity.

Indigenous people and communities today are challenged with adapting and keeping pace with a world of information exchange, technological advancement, and the inter-connectivity of the world’s economies and financial systems as well as the gap between the rich and poor increasing at a rapid rate. They are also faced with the realities of having the youngest and fastest growing population in this country while living in the worst comparable socio-economic conditions. With a scarcity of resources available to Indigenous people and the constant threat of continued funding cuts from government, indigenous leaders today are faced with the daunting task of balancing the socio-economic needs and priorities of their people with the finite resources passed on from government and their own source revenues. So, what is the answer to closing these socio-economic gaps and creating a more promising future?

Faculty member Trent Blind leads a session in the Indigenous Business and Economic Development program. Photo by Rita Taylor.

Indigenous Leaders are increasingly turning their attention and focusing their efforts on alternative strategies to offset the imbalance of these challenges and gaps. Such strategies include emerging trends in the political and legal landscape such as the “duty to consult” as well as a greater awareness and support of the Canadian public through social movements like “Idle No More.” If we look at the last decade, we see there has been an explosion of growth in the number of Indigenous owned and operated businesses, partnerships, joint ventures, and a rapidly growing number of Indigenous entrepreneurs. These are all significant and positive trends in helping close the socio-economic gaps that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. These Indigenous owned businesses are creating employment, economic prosperity, and improving individual and community social wellbeing.

The development of sustainable businesses is vital to the future prosperity of Indigenous people and essential to improving the overall prospects for employment, skill, and capacity development. More and more, our leaders are realizing that education is not the only “buffalo” of today, but so is Indigenous business.

Taking lessons learned from efforts of tried, tested, and proven strategies in Indigenous economic development, many leaders are focusing on taking inventory of the resources they have. Upon closer examination and assessment of these inventories, Indigenous leaders are developing innovative ways of leveraging their resources and maximizing their socio-economic opportunities. Integrating human resources, financial resources, and natural resources with a partnership approach that involves a process of evaluation and assessment of their best use, Indigenous people are setting a new course for transforming their local economies.

Reducing dependence on government funding to support people and community endeavors is perhaps one goal of achieving economic self-sufficiency and therefore a truer form of self-government. This path will result in a more promising future for Indigenous communities.

]]>http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/12/02/business-becomes-the-buffalo-2/feed/4Innovation and Communications Residency with Integrated Sustainabilityhttp://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/12/02/innovation-and-communications-residency-with-integrated-sustainability/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=innovation-and-communications-residency-with-integrated-sustainability
http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/12/02/innovation-and-communications-residency-with-integrated-sustainability/#commentsTue, 02 Dec 2014 19:21:11 +0000http://www.banffcentre.org/?p=21477It has been almost a year since Patrick Leslie and Oksana Ogrodnik were tucked away in the Leighton Artists’ Colony, brainstorming an ambitious new project. Post-it notes covered the walls and desk, while facilitators and other program participants poked their heads into their Painter House room to see how they could support.

As part of a three-day Innovation and Communications Residency, put on by Leadership Development at The Banff Centre, the duo were joined by two other organizations and a creative entrepreneur, with facilitation and guest faculty sessions from Banff Centre artists scheduled around periods of focused work. The Innovation and Communications Residency supports teams and organizations in communicating a new idea and strategically identifying and leveraging the resources necessary to move it forward. The methodology facilitates innovation and problem solving through collaboration and collective inquiry.

“The session in Banff was helpful for us to sit down and look at strategy and growth in a different way than we would in our office. A lot of the work we did back then we are applying now towards the challenges that we faced,” said Patrick, who also participated in Leadership Development’s inaugural Entrepreneurial Residency as a Startup Calgary winner. “It was a good opportunity to put aside the day-to-day and concentrate on this particular problem. We were able to isolate ourselves, while still putting to practice the key techniques we learned from the curated sessions.”

Patrick and Oksana’s company, Integrated Sustainability, focuses on environmental solutions to water supply, treatment, and disposal and utilizes a holistic approach through a team of engineers, scientists, and economists. During a period of fast growth, they took to task filling a gap that was identified by their team.

“An emerging trend we are seeing in the industry is increased collaboration. The biggest hurdle we recognized for our team was the regulatory space. By addressing that we were able to make sure all the right people are at the table and had an opportunity to talk,” said Oksana, Director of Sustainability and Risk.

In a recent example of approaching a problem collectively, Integrated Sustainability facilitated a workshop with the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada. They gathered water and wastewater professionals to discuss key challenges.

“We invited all the major names in government and industry to talk about innovative solutions to water management. It was a great opportunity to understand the challenges that were being faced and how we can bring solutions to the marketplace,” said Patrick, Director of Technology and Innovation.

Accolades have been accumulating for Integrated Sustainability. They recently won the ATB Small Business of the Year Award through the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. Company president Stuart Torr was also honoured with a 2015 Delta Management Clean50 Award.

“We regularly look at how we can be at the forefront and connect clients to a better solution that is more sustainable,” said Oksana. “At the end of the day, it is all about finding the best option for current and future opportunities. Even if our clients don’t fully go ahead with our recommendations, at least we opened their eyes to some potential risks.”

]]>http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/12/02/innovation-and-communications-residency-with-integrated-sustainability/feed/0The making of Drawn: Time lapse art creationhttp://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/21/the-making-of-drawn-time-lapse-art-creation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-making-of-drawn-time-lapse-art-creation
http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/21/the-making-of-drawn-time-lapse-art-creation/#commentsFri, 21 Nov 2014 17:35:16 +0000http://www.banffcentre.org/?p=21454As an illustrator, story teller, film director and exploratory rock climber, Jeremy Collin’s repertoire is vast. This time-lapse art creation was recorded at The Banff Centre in one seven-hour sitting, then condensed into four minutes. The short film merges active art creation with imagination and animation and was created for the premiere of Drawn at the 2014 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival with support from The Banff Centre’s Fleck Fellowship program and Clif Bar.

Blending stunning footage with sketchbook art and animated scenes, Drawn takes audiences with Collins as he explores remote villages, makes new friends, and says goodbye to an old one. “The story is not really about climbing,” he said during his time at The Banff Centre. “It’s about relationships – my family back home and friends – and celebrating those relationships in a special way.”

Looking back on the experience of climbing the jungles of Venezuela, to the China-Mongolian Border, to the northern reaches of Canada, and closer to home in Yosemite Valley, Collins acknowledges that this time in his life led to the biggest transition he has had as an artist. “I became a storyteller instead of just a picture-maker,” he says. “I love writing. I love making art with ink and watercolour. I love storytelling more than any of that though. Telling stories – whether my own or someone else’s – that’s my calling in life.

“My hope, like every artist, is to entertain, to make their lives richer and give them an experience that’s memorable, and to empower them to go and tell their own stories.”

]]>http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/21/the-making-of-drawn-time-lapse-art-creation/feed/0Throwback Thursday with a twist of Convergencehttp://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/20/throwback-thursday-with-a-twist-of-convergence/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=throwback-thursday-with-a-twist-of-convergence
http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/20/throwback-thursday-with-a-twist-of-convergence/#commentsThu, 20 Nov 2014 21:05:50 +0000http://www.banffcentre.org/?p=21449On November 19, 1988, The Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Building (JPL) officially opened its doors. As The Banff Centre’s newest and most technologically advanced building, JPL offered artists the opportunity to interact and experiment with new computer technologies – like the gleaming Macintosh computer pictured here.

the moment at which former Premier Lougheed clicks the mouse on the Macintosh computer to cue the beginning of the piece, while his wife Jeanne and then-Deputy Premier David J. Russell look on

To mark the occasion, former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed and his wife Jeanne unveiled a dedicatory plaque, which was heralded by a somewhat unusual musical work. Composed by Claude Schryer specifically for the opening, “Fanfare, JPL (1988)” was written for Macintosh computer, synthesizers and musicians. The photo above captures the moment when former Premier Lougheed clicked the mouse on the Macintosh computer to cue the beginning of the piece, while his wife Jeanne and then-Deputy Premier David J. Russell looked on.

Today, JPL features state-of-the-art facilities for media arts, photography and sound recording. It’s the perfect place to host installations during Convergence: an international summit on art + technology at The Banff Centre from November 27 – 29.

Convergence brings together the greatest minds in art + technology from around the world to showcase work that crosses disciplines, sparks the imagination and builds relationships across creative communities. Guests include Éric Fournier, partner and executive producer of Moment Factory; Hiroaki Umeda, choreographer and multidisciplinary artist; and Robin Fox, audio-visual performance artist. I wonder what Robin would think of the place?

Stop by JPL during Convergence to see Blood Work by Kim Morgan and Converging facilitated by Lindsay MacDonald and Sarah Storteboom. The National Film Board of Canada Screening Room will be open, and our audio department is keeping the doors open to showcase our amazing audio studios.

]]>http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/20/throwback-thursday-with-a-twist-of-convergence/feed/0The Best of the Fest!http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/17/the-best-of-the-fest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-best-of-the-fest
http://www.banffcentre.org/blog/2014/11/17/the-best-of-the-fest/#commentsMon, 17 Nov 2014 18:24:10 +0000http://www.banffcentre.org/?p=21339If you missed this year’s Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, fear not. Here’s a snap shot of the fun that was had over #NineEpicDays here at The Banff Centre. We boasted a record 27 sold out events between our Film and Book programs and welcomed more than 19,000 guests, speakers and film makers to Banff.